Last updated: April 2016

Annual Revenue$8.23 billion a year

Other Brands-

Company Rating2.5 out of 20

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BoycottsNo

Ethical Consumer Best Buy?No

Ethical issues by category

People - more info..

In April 2016 Starbucks received Ethical Consumer's middle ranking for its supply chain management.

The company was found to only have a 'reasonable' supply chain policy which covered many key aspects including limiting working hours. It had a 'rudimentary' approach to stakeholder engagement, 'poor' auditing and reporting and a 'poor' approach to difficult issues.

The company had also not signed up to pay its UK staff a living wage. In an industry where low pay is endemic Ethical Consumer considered signing up to the Living Wage Foundation's minimum pay levels vital to ensure a decent level of pay for workers.

Environment - more info..

While Starbuck's talked about some of its impacts from farming it did not talk about the use of pesticides nor did it mention the environmental impacts of dairy farming. Therefore Starbuck's was not considered to have demostrated a reasonable understanding of its environmental impacts.

The report did contain environmental targets however these were dated to be achieved in 2015. No future environmental targets could be found.

Animals - more info..

In March 2015 Starbuck's website stated the company only used free-range eggs and 100% pole and line caught tuna.

However they have been criticised by campaign group GMO Inside for their milk sourcing. Campaigners report that cows supplying milk to Starbucks were bred on a constant cycle using artificial insemination, and lived in extremely crowded and unnatural conditions such as standing on the concrete floor of a barn surrounded by their own urine and faeces.

Politics - more info..

In April 2016 Starbucks received Ethical Consumer's worst rating for likely use of tax avoidance strategies. The company had a number of subsidiaries based in tax havens including three holding companies registered in Hong Kong - Starbucks Asia Pacific Investment Holding Limited and Starbucks Asia Pacific Investment Holding III Limited. It also had an investment company in Singapore: STARBUCKS SINGAPORE INVESTMENT PTE. LTD.

In-Depth Information

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